Tag Archives: Commencement Bay

Point Ruston Just Keeps Getting Better

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What used to be home to an ugly, smelly smelter plant for Asarco has magically transformed into a lovely, walkable shopping and dining district and homes for those who prefer condominiums or apartment living with views of Commencement Bay.

Point Ruston, located on Ruston Way on the Tacoma waterfront continues to add new restaurants and stores almost monthly, it seems. It’s become one of my favorite places to walk around, eat, take the dog, see a movie or just stare at the beauty of Puget Sound.

Here are a few of my preferred haunts:

Coming soon:

  • Ice Cream Social just in time for the sunny summer days we hope are coming
  • Silver Cloud Inn so you don’t have to leave
  • Purpose Boutique where you can shop with your gal pals
  • Fish Brewing Company with seating for 360, handcrafted brews, wine and food

Just when you think a place can’t get any better, Pt. Ruston recently announced their inaugural concert series beginning Saturday, June 24, 2017. Free live music for all ages, every Saturday from 5-7 p.m. until September 2. Look for these groups:  Strangely Alright, Sweet Kiss Momma, Kim Archer Band and Ted Brown Showcase.

Courtesy Travel Tacoma

Breaking News:  A new trolley, the Downtown to Defiance Trolley, goes into service on June 2, 2017. It will take passengers from downtown to the Ruston Way waterfront, Pt. Ruston and Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Leave your car at the Tacoma Dome Station and take the Tacoma Link to downtown for no charge. Then catch the trolley and you can leave all the driving to Pierce Transit.

 

The Tacoma Waterfront Beckons

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Tacoma waterfront from Ruston Way

Yesterday we got a break from the grayness and a tiny taste of spring. Boy was it ever yummy – kind of like a big dollop of plain hot fudge or a juicy Dungeness crab leg. We grabbed the chance to take advantage of the sun shining down on us Tacomans and walked the waterfront along Ruston Way. Mother Nature made a mighty beautiful landscape there and others have helped it along with parks, sidewalks, restaurants and a hotel.

The Silver Cloud Inn, the hotel at one end of the popular walk, offers 90 waterfront rooms. Talk about a perfect place for a Staycation. Rooms come with breakfast, high-speed internet and complimentary parking. No more than three miles from most of Tacoma’s attractions, the Inn is definitely centrally located. But you wouldn’t have to leave the waterfront if you didn’t want to.

Silver Cloud Inn

If you’re not able to spend the night on the waterfront, at least eat. Restaurants about along Ruston Way and there’s not a bad one in the bunch. The Lobster Shop, Duke’s, Katy Downs, The Ram, Shenanigan’s and Harbor Lights all serve lunch or dinner or both.

If you’re walking along the waterfront with a dog or two, you’ll fit right in. Joggers, roller bladders and bicyclists also share the path with pedestrians.

The weather didn’t last, but the sunlit waters of yesterday still shine vividly in my memory. Hopefully, I won’t have to wait long for another sunny day and a walk along the shore of Commencement Bay.

C.I. Shenanigans on Ruston Way.

Tour or Stay at Brown’s Point Lighthouse

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Stove in the museum at the Brown's Point Lighthouse Keepers Cottage.

On a recent Saturday I took a tour of the Brown’s Point Lighthouse and Cottage in Brown’s Point, led by Barbara Heimers. She was visiting from the east coast for her niece’s wedding, which was set to take place in a few hours in front of the lighthouse with an up-close view of the beach. To keep herself busy, she deeply researched the lighthouse so she could voluntarily lead the free tours that afternoon and she gladly shared that knowledge with visitors.

The Brown's Point art deco Lighthouse.

Open Saturdays, between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. from March through November, these tours cost nothing. Although by now Barbara has returned home, many other knowledgeable guides also lead the tours.

History

In 1887, a lantern hung from a post at Brown’s Point warning ships that they were approaching the entrance to Commencement Bay. Then in 1903 a wooden light house was built, also to warn ships and it needed a lighthouse keeper.

Oscar Brown and his wife, Annie, became the first lighthouse keepers at Brown’s Point that same year. They arrived with a cow and a piano. Their daily tasks included keeping the kerosene light burning and the fog bell ringing (Brown’s Point is one of the foggiest places in Washington, so this was very important), and Oscar kept a journal of daily activities plus gave music lessons to the neighborhood children. In 1939 Oscar retired and the United States Coast Guard took over the Lighthouse Service. At this time almost everything in the lighthouse became automated.

A kind of living museum has been established in the basement of the cottage showcasing many of the furnishings of life in the early 20’s times like an ice box, iron, treadle sewing machine and so much more.

The three-bedroom Brown’s Point Lighthouse Cottage rents for $800 a week, but guests must take over some of the Light Keeper’s duties – daily maintenance, conducting tours, raising and lowering the U.S. flag and making daily entries into the light keeper’s log book.

Barbara thought the appeal of lighthouses had to do with a reminiscence of simpler times

When people had to help others and everything wasn’t done by computers.

Whether you choose to stay in the cottage (available from May – October) or not, a tour is well worth your while. For information or reservations, visit www.pointsnortheast.org.

And it’s right on the beach.